What! Why Not?
by Kitty-kraze
Summary: Toby asks Olivia the ultimate question but her answer isn't what he expected at all. Just as he thinks his life cannot become any worse, a jacked up Chevy truck shows him differently.
1. Chapter 1

_**What?! Why Not?**_

**Chapter 1:**_**A/N:**__ Hi, this is going to be pretty short, if it's not a one-shot. It's a little random, but I hope you like it! I have more stories coming but it takes me a little while to write them up. I really hope you enjoy this! Please read and review! Thanks!_

Toby sits in the passenger seat of the ambulance, anxiously fidgeting as Oz navigates the large truck through the bumper to bumper traffic.

"Hey, man. What's going on? You're acting like you've got ants in your pants." Oz points out laughing at his partner's livid returned glare.

"Nothing." He replies quietly, staring out the window.

Oz gives him a look. _'C'mon man, don't you lie to me.'_ He thinks. Oz's thought in Toby's mind is the last thing the telepath needs in his head. Toby feels a massive migraine forming, pushing against his eyes.

"Ughh," he groans softly as he lays his head against the window.

"Tob, what's wrong, man?"

"Just, a migraine." He responds refusing to look into his partner's concerned face.

He's simply trying to push all of the voices out of his head. His eyes start to close from the sheer exhaustion and anxiousness of everything. Oz keeps glancing at his young friend, he's not sure if he's passed out, sleeping, or still awake but he lets Toby continue doing whatever he's doing. A half hour passes and they arrive at the hospital, parking in the ambulance bay not having anything else to do or anywhere else to go. The sun has set but leaves Toronto bathed in pale orange and purple light. Toby's head is still resting against the window and Oz reaches across the seat to gently shake his shoulder.

"Hey Toby? You with me?" he asks not receiving a response. He shakes his friend's shoulder harder and calls a bit louder and more urgently. "Toby, c'mon man. Wake up! You're scaring me."

"Mmmmhmmn." Toby moans, beginning to stir and opening his eyes.

"Hey, you with me now?"

"What?" Toby asks groggily.

"Are you with me, man?" Oz repeats.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess so."

"What happened? You were here and then you were, gone."

"Sorry. I just had this really bad migraine. I think I just fell asleep." Toby says softly, obviously still tired and slightly incoherent.

"I think you're sick and you passed out." Oz suggests firmly, trying to feel his partner's forehead.

Toby flinches away and climbs out of the truck. Although he attempts to conceal it, Oz can still see that his friend is unsteady on his feet and appears to be dizzy and light-headed.

'_You're sick and you just don't want to admit it.'_ Oz thinks, trying to fire Toby up.

"No I'm not!" he rebukes. "Cut it out, Oz. I'm exhausted! And yeah, maybe I did pass out! I don't know! Just lay off!" he shouts, suddenly snapping.

Oz makes a 'yikes!' face before choosing his next words of wisdom. "I just want you to take it easy, man. That's all." He says calmly.

Toby sighs and feels awful for yelling at Oz. "I'm sorry, man. I'm just – really tired and I shouldn't have snapped at you. You were just trying to help. I appreciate it, really, but I can take care of myself."

"Right. Of course you can." Oz says feeling a bit hurt that Toby would just blow him off like that but he does everything he can to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Hey, you and Liv have plans tonight?" he asks changing the subject, saving them from a silent walk into the building.

"Yeah, I'm taking her out for dinner. She needs to get away from the work place more often."

"Ha, so do you."

Both men laugh at the irony of their words. They continue to chat about relationships: how Toby's is working and how Oz can hardly even get a girlfriend, much less keep her. They pass Olivia in the hallway and Toby stops her for a second.

"Hey, can I talk to you later?" he asks, his eyes searching her face.

"Yeah sure. I'm just sort of busy right now." She says motioning to her clipboard. _'I have to check on Robert, change that little boy's bandage, oh, I have to call Susan Drymen to confirm that appointment.'_

"Right. Of course." Toby answers nodding, reading her busy thoughts. "Later; if you have time."

"Later." She promises, quickly kissing him before continuing on her rounds.

When Toby turns back around, he finds Oz smirking at him. "What?" he asks.

Oz chuckles and replies with a simple, "Nothing."

"C'mon, what is it?" Toby presses.

"When are you – you know, going to pop the question? You guys have been dating for what? Three, four years?" Oz asks.

"Three years, five months, two weeks and four and a half days." Toby answers.

"Whoa, somebody's got a little too much time on their hands."

"I just like keeping track." Toby replies with a mysterious glint in his eyes.

'_Yeah, sure you do.'_ Oz thinks. _'You have something more than just taking her to dinner don't you?'_

His friend smiles but does not reply.

"Our shift just ended, I guess you're good here then?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Tell me how your "date" goes." Oz states smirking, walking towards the ambulance bay to drive the truck back to the station where his car is parked.

"Yeah, yeah, I will." Toby says fully prepared to _not_ tell him how it goes. He's nearly too scared to think about it now.

Eight o'clock rolls into nine and Toby busies himself where he can, lending an extra hand to some of the medics bringing patients in. Olivia is supposed to be finished with her shift at nine forty-five tonight. It's a little past the dinner rush, but they're both used to eating late since their shifts can be at absurd times during the night. At nine thirty, Toby can barely stand himself. He's so nervous that the panicked thoughts of the hurt people around him don't even make it into his head. He starts to wander the halls, feeling out of place in his civilian clothes in the midst of all the nurses' and doctors' scrubs. He finds Liv in a small room, leaning up against the wall, just taking a five minute break. He hesitantly knocks on the open door while five other nurses buzz past him. Liv's head shoots up when she hears the gentle knocking but she smiles when she sees Toby's face.

"Can I come in?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure. I'm just on a five minute break right now." _'It's been crazy around here and I don't want to think about tonight. I should really just go home. I'll make it up to Toby later.' _She thinks.

Toby's face falls as he accidently hears her thoughts. He normally tries to block them out, not wanting to invade her privacy. He tries to look normal again, as if he hadn't heard her thoughts. She sounded so cavalier, like he was just some sort of side thought and of so little importance that she can just 'make it up to him' any time she wants to do so. She notices the change in her boyfriend's face and realizes that he had heard her.

"Toby, I'm sorry. You know I didn't - " she starts.

"It's fine. You've had a long day. Maybe we can make it up next week." He answers empathetically. He knows how hard she's been working and she deserves a break. Just a night to her own.

Olivia's face expresses deep thinking, pondering why they cannot make it up until next week. This is just Tuesday. Then she remembers that Toby has to work every single night this week during the nine pm to five am shift and he'll be too tired to go out anywhere during the day, no matter how much he wants too.

"Toby, we can go tonight. Really, sweetie. I don't have to come in tomorrow until three pm. We'll have plenty of time to be together." She replies decisively.

Three nurses come into the break room and beginning chatting to themselves quietly and Toby knows it's time to make his move. He drops down onto one knee and pulls a ring box out of jean's pocket. Olivia gasps when he open the box to reveal a beautiful emerald ring.

"Olivia Fawcett. Will you marry me?" he asks all smiles.

The small group of nurses that are also on a break all start 'aw'-ing but Olivia is paralyzed.

"Uh," is all she manages. She blinks a few times and Toby is starting to wonder if something is wrong. "No! No, Toby, I – I can't marry you." She exclaims.

His face drops and his ice blue eyes stare at her in disbelief and shock. "What?! Why not?" he asks almost close to tears. "Is it something I said? Do you not like the ring? We can go back and pick out another one. Is it because I don't have a car? I have a license; I can go out and buy a used one right now. I'll get another job if you don't think we'll make enough money." Toby fires off desperately, just completely not understanding.

"No, no, it's, it's not any of that." She stammers.

"So what is it? Why do you keep saying no?"

"I love you, Toby. I – I, do. Just, not like that." She says. "I just can't marry you. We're – We're too different. You're, special and, and I don't know if I can handle that for the rest of my life."

"I can change!" He cries out. "I'm on different medicine, it's making things better! It is! I promise."

Liv just shakes her head 'no' slowly. _'You're an idiot! How dare you come to __my__ workplace and try to propose to me when you should know that I don't love you like that! You're a telepath, and I'm not and it's weird! You know what I'm thinking all the time so how dare you not invade my mind to actually figure out what I'm thinking to spare you from getting hurt and embarrassing me in front of my colleagues! I love Todd and you know that! You can't change anything Toby Logan and I wish you'd just go away. Get out of my life! I don't need you and you certainly don't need me.'_ She thinks angrily.

Toby's icy eyes turn stormy and cold though she can clearly see the true hurt deep down. He snaps the box close and lets it fall to the floor as he stands slowly. The nurses behind Olivia are silent and shocked at the doctor's reaction to this attractive man proposing to her. He looks her in the eye and as he begins to speak, Liv can hear the pain in his voice.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way." He says quietly and in that moment, Olivia knows that her boyfriend hadn't been invading her mind, just because she asked him not too and that his words are genuine and full of sorrow. He didn't know that was how she felt and still feels.

He slowly turns and walks out of the room. She stares at his back for a moment before running out into the hall.

"Toby!" She shouts but he's down the hall and nearly out of the door. "Toby please!" She yells but she hears the exterior door slam shut and knows that he left the building. She sighs and closes her eyes, wanting it to all just go away.

Toby steps outside into the frigid night air. He calmly walks out of the parking lot and into a side street before he just starts running. Maybe if he runs far enough away he won't hear Liv's harsh thoughts repeat over and over again in his head. He loses track for the length of time he has been running. Toby is drenched in sweat and is starting to shake. He's gasping for air but he wants to keep running. Maybe he run into the country or into a neighboring town and start his life over. A whole new town where no one knows about his gift and no one sees him as anything else that a paramedic. Maybe he can take a job as a journalist or something. He doesn't want to think about it anymore and keeps running until he thinks he's going to go into cardiac arrest. Toby simply slows his run down to a fast walk and paces out the city's grid, attempting to figure out the smartest way to leave Toronto without having a car. Hitch-hiking is a bit too dangerous for his liking and walking the whole way to some remote town outside of the city isn't exactly favourable either.

"I can't believe it." He mutters. "I can't believe she would just say 'no'! Am I really that bad of a person?" He slows down even more and suddenly finds himself collapsed on the side of a deserted back alley sobbing his heart out. A few thoughts race through his mind, contemplating suicide. "What good would it do to kill myself? Oz would just be mad and Liv would have a pity party and feel bad for not wanting me. Why doesn't anyone want me?! What have I done so no one loves me? I can't do this anymore! God, help me!" He cries suddenly.

Everything turns quiet and peaceful. No thoughts float through his head, Liv's voice isn't ringing in his ears, everything is just perfectly quiet. Toby sits up straighter and leans against the side of the abandoned building behind him looking up at the barely visible stars. A bright flash streaks through the black night sky causing Toby's breath to catch in his throat with awe. He stands, feeling renewed and begins to walk calmly down the alley. He rounds the corner and pauses, hearing a loud roar that is seemingly following him. Briefly, he spots bright headlights. He glances at the end of the alley, fervently trying to find a place to run to, but a nine foot barbed wire fence stands tall, blocking Toby's path and any other hope for escape. The roar grows louder and louder. The headlights round the corner and come straight for Toby. The jacked up Chevy truck is almost upon Toby who stands quite paralyzed with fear.

"God, I don't want to die now! I don't want to die!" he whispers in terror.

The huge truck speeds up, heading on a collision course straight for Toby. The paramedic closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and swallows a split second before he feels an incredible blow to his whole body, throwing him, and then nothing.

_**A/N:**__ Hehehehehe! Cliffy or cliffy? I know, I'm evil! So obviously there will be another chapter following this, I'm not just going to leave you hanging __, and that'll probably be it for this story. Thanks so much for reading this chapter! Please review! I love to hear what you think! #PeaceoutGreasers! __ It's an Outsider thing…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**_**A/N: **__Hi guys! How's it goin'? This is going to be a short chapter and then there'll be a short epilogue and that's it! I do have one other story for The Listener planned and I'll start posting on it soon. I really hope you like this chapter! Thanks again, so much for reading!_

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1 Week Later:

Toby's eyes open slowly and groan with realization of his location. His soaks in his surroundings in his empty ICU room. He feels an oxygen mask resting on his face but he's far too weak to remove it. Panic rises when he can't feel his whole lower half below his ribcage. He tries to move but his vision blurs suddenly and his breath catches in his throat. Toby flops his head back down onto his pillow and tries to slow his racing heart down. For once, his mind is empty. Fifteen minutes later, his heart is racing as if he just finished running a marathon without conditioning. A nurse comes scurrying in with a syringe and quickly injects it into Toby's arm. His vision blurs and blackens as he slips away. Olivia pops her head in the door just as the nurse is about to leave.

"Hey, how is he? I heard his buzzer going off." Liv says walking further into Toby's room.

"Yes, his heart is racing and he was starting to panic. He probably realized the lack of feeling in his lower half. We need to perform another examination on his vertebras and spinal cord. The MRI results should be ready today. Has Dr. Símon explained his injuries to you?" the nurse asks.

"Yes, just not the latest updates. Is his back actually broken?" Liv asks quietly, lightly brushing her fingers against the small part of his cheek that is not covered by the O2 mask.

"We still are not sure. There are multiple bone fragments lodged in his spinal cord which could be contributing to the non-existent feelings below his ribcage. He may not be able to walk again even if he regains the sensation in his lower half." The nurse explains.

"Oh, Toby." Liv chokes running her hand through his thick hair. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so, so sorry." She begins to cry softly knowing this is halfway her fault.

She kisses his forehead as the nurse leaves and wishes he isn't sedated but she knows he would be in total panic if he was awake. She wishes she could take his pain away, let him feel again, heal his back, but she can't do any of that. Liv sniffles as she realizes that he is not just sedated, but unconscious. She holds his limp hand up against her cheek and quickly leaves. In the hallway, she runs into Oz.

"Oh, sorry." She apologizes for bumping into him.

"It's fine." He says with a smile that soon drops as he asks his next question. "How's Toby?"

"Not well." Olivia admits. "He woke up again but he was panicking and his heart was racing. They're doing another examination on his back today and MRI results should be in."

"Well, that's good, I guess. That he woke up, I mean." Oz stumbles on his words, trying to control the anger that is rising up in him.

"Yeah, I guess. Did the police tell you what happened? I got some of it, but," she trails off.

"They called me, said it was a hit and run in a back alley almost across town. They thought Toby was the suspect they were chasing after and that the taser darts actually hit who it was supposed to, but they found Toby's ID. They said he was barely alive. From the tire tracks on his body they concluded that he had been run over. Toby woke up a few times in the truck on the way over here and kept talking about a Chevy, but no one's found any leads yet. The driver was probably drunk." Oz recites what the policemen had told him over the phone when they found Toby's emergency contacts in his wallet and over the few meetings they had had.

"Poor Toby, all alone and in pain." Liv says very sympathetically.

"Why'd you say no." Oz suddenly demands hardly able to contain his emotions.

"Pardon me?"

"Why did you say 'no' to him?!" he shouts.

"I can't marry someone I don't love, Oz! I wasn't just going to say 'yes' and be dragged along for the ride with a man I don't even love!" she exclaims.

"Then why were you giving him, giving _all _of us the impression that you were in love with him?!"

"I didn't know I was doing that!" she shouts angrily in the empty hallway. It's nearly past midnight and the ICU is fairly silent where they are.

"Really?! All of the date nights, all the surprise dinners, all the sleep-overs! You didn't know you were giving off major vibes to him?!" Oz exclaims astonished at her audacity. "C'mon Liv! Who kisses a guy they don't love?!"

"I just- I was just - " she tries.

"You were just what? Trying to be courteous? Come one! You know better! You've been dating _for years_, Liv. Years! Was he just your little toy you liked to play with when you were bored? Just pick him up and play with him whenever you feel like it because you know that he'd be waiting for you! You were probably cheating on him too. You broke his heart! You broke him, Liv! How'd ya like that? You broke you're little toy and now you can't play with him anymore, 'cause he might not _ever_ recover from what you did to him! He was trying to _run_ out of the city of Toronto because of what you did to him!" Oz yells. He steps in closer to her talking as low and quiet as he can. "You told him not to read your thoughts, and he didn't, and you crushed him. What'd you think he was going to do? Just listen to them anyway? He didn't because he loved you and he didn't want to make you uncomfortable. That kid has been doing _everything_ to get his telepathic ways under control. Have you ever seen him take his 'medicine' in the morning? He downs about twenty different pills to help with the thoughts, the migraines, the seizures, the panic attacks, the blood pressure spikes, c'mon! Have been blind this whole time?! He's been doing everything for you and you thank him by blowing up on him, sending him out of the city to get run down in a back alley by a Chevy. Real mature, Liv. Real mature. Good job loving the man who would give his life for you. I hope you and your other boy-toy get along great and God forbid he _ever_ finds out about Toby and what he asked you. Oh, right, but if he does you can always just say that Toby's a psychotic, schizophrenic, stalker who thinks he's your boyfriend. Yeah, it's easy to cover that one up. Isn't it." Oz's voice is back up to a shouting level, furious that Olivia would break his best friend's heart.

"Oz I didn't tell him to get out of town! I didn't tell him to run like a fool into some back alley! I wasn't the driver of that Chevy! I told him how I felt and he didn't like it! He did it to himself. It's not my fault he's dying!" she screams.

Oz's face clamps into a stern look of anger. "What do you mean he's dying." He growls.

"Uh, I, I uh-" she starts. "He – He's just really bad off."

"How so."

"Um, well, he – his back might be broken, there are bone fragments in his spinal cord, he has severe internal bleeding and possible brain damage or memory loss. The last time we checked, his brain was still bleeding. His ribs are broken, his legs are broken or fractured, his stomach is bleeding, and he doesn't have any feeling below his rib cage. He most likely won't be able to walk again even _if_ he regains feeling." She explains becoming very professional.

Oz's face drops and he looks around in disbelief. _'No, no this can't be happening! I can't lose him. Not as a human or as a partner.'_ "Is there anything you can do for him?"

"We're doing all we can. Surgery to remove the fragments from his spinal cord which could let him feel again is out of the question in his unstable condition. The broken bones are healing in splints and cast and they're the least of our worries. It's really just the internal bleeding, brain damage and the possibility of a broken back and being paralyzed from the waist down essentially." Liv sighs.

"What about a blood transfusion? Are you doing those?"

"His blood type is so rare and we haven't been able to find in a week. I'm sure his mother or his brother would be a match, but as far we know, they've fallen off the face of the earth. We've contacted everyone on Toby's list of contacts and people he knows or are close friends or family to, but they've all said that he's their adopted family. No one is blood-related. He really is an orphan, isn't he Oz?" she asks quietly.

"Yeah." A few moments pass as each of them think about how to save the life of the ice-blue eyed, telepathic orphan boy everybody loves. "So we're just gonna wait 'til bleeds out?" Oz asks with a biting tone on the end of his words.

"Oz, there's nothing else that we can do. We're trying. We're doing everything we can. We're pulling every string there is for him. No one's a match. Nothing's been working. I never wanted this to happen. I never wanted to stay this long with him. I thought he'd get bored and move on to some blonde. I never wanted to hurt him." She repeats looking into Oz's eyes, hoping to find comfort and at least a little compassion. _'I do love Toby. I'm just too scared to commit the rest of my life to him. I didn't want to hurt him like this. I wish I could go back and say something different. Think something that wasn't so harsh. Why can't I go back?!'_

"Can I see him?" Oz asks startling Liv from her thoughts.

"Yes."

The paramedic nods once to her and pushes the ICU labeled door open and enters his best friend's room. He sits down in the chair next to Toby's bed and places his head in his hands, wondering how this could happen. Toby's heart is still beating a bit too fast and all of his levels are a little off, but what can Oz do about it? The doctors can't even make them right.

'_Is he really dying?'_ Oz wonders, but knows the answer nonetheless. "You've gotta get better, man. I can't work with anybody else. You know that. I know you're going to walk again and I know that in a few weeks, you're going to be sitting in the truck with me laughing about this whole thing. What Liv did was wrong. She might've loved you at first but she played you. She broke your heart and you're paying the consequences. That's not right. You should've called me though instead of taking off. We could've gotten through it. I think she still loves you, Tob, but you're never going to know that until you wake up."

Minutes pass and but the silence stays. The quick beeps reading Toby's pulse are about to drive Oz over the deep end. He suddenly hears a quiet grunt though and glances down at his friend.

"Hey Tob? You with me?"

Toby grunts again and starts to stir, suddenly screaming in pain. His eyes never open.

"Toby? Toby! Toby, talk to me!"

His friend screams a final time and the heart monitor is beeping crazily in erratic intervals. Two doctors and three nurses flood into the room. Olivia is not one of them. They block Oz out, pushing their way to their patient. The doctors are shouting over the beeps, a nurse is radioing for an empty OR room, the whole room is filled with urgency and a grave panic.

"What's happening? Why was he screaming?" Oz demands.

"His appendix has ruptured. We need to perform an emergency surgery and remove it immediately." Turning to the nurses, he says, "Get him outta here, now!" and hurries out of the room. "We'll keep you updated."

"Oz! What's wrong with Toby?!" Liv exclaims watching the younger medic being rushed out of his room and down the hall with an entourage of nurses surrounding him.

"Ruptured appendix." He explains quite scared himself for Toby but also knowing how serious a ruptured appendix is.

"Oh my gosh! What was all the racket in his room?"

"He was screaming. He wasn't awake though."

"Oz, what have I done?!" she exclaims, bursting into tears and flinging herself into Oz's arms.

"He'll be okay, Liv." He tries to soothe, embracing her. "He has to be."

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I really want to know what you think so please, please, please review! __! Epilogue is coming soon and that'll be it! I do have one more fanfic for The Listener though, so you'll be hearing from me again soon! Thanks so much! Please review!_


	3. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_**A/N: **__Hi! Obviously, this is the epilogue so this'll be the last chapter of this story. :/. I'm happy to finish it though and I'm glad it wasn't just a one-shot! Really hoped you liked it! Thanks for all your support! Please read and review! Thank you!_

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Two Weeks Later:

"Toby? Tob, can you hear me? C'mon man, wake up, please!" Oz pleads sitting next to his best friend's hospital bed. "Please Toby!"

"Oz, is everything okay? What's happening?" Liv asks walking in to see a hysterical Oz next to Toby.

"It's, well, Toby's not waking up."

"Oh, Oz. You know the doctors said that he needs time to recover and he probably won't wake up for a while." Liv reminds him.

"Liv, you can't lie to me. He's in a coma, his back is broken and he's not going to wake up. It's been three weeks since he was hit."

"I know it sounds bad, but,"

"There's no buts, Liv. My partner, my best friend, is paralyzed and never waking up." Oz concludes sadly, close to tears.

"I – I know it looks like that but I don't think it's going to stay that way."

"Then how are you planning on fixing it?" he asks, clearly upset.

"We're trying everything we can. The internal bleeding is much less, his brain has stopped bleeding and most of his broken and fractures bones are healing nicely." Liv says optimistically although she knows it's not looking good at all for Toby.

"You said those were the least of his problems. His back is broken, he's still bleeding internally and you said he had some brain damage not to mention possible memory loss."

"We're working on it, Oz. You're lucky that the internal bleeding lessened and didn't kill him. We still don't have a blood match and his body is rejecting all of the other blood transfusions."

"Oh and _I'm_ the lucky one? Wow, Liv. You know, I think Toby's the lucky one. Not that you care about him or anything and he probably doesn't want to be alive, but hey, he's in a coma so he doesn't even know he's alive, right? I know one thing Olivia Fawcett, you better stay the hell away from Toby when he wakes up and even if he doesn't, I don't want to see you within two hundred yards of him. Not after what you did to him. You broke my best friend's heart to the point that he tried to _run_ out of the city of Toronto. That's what you did to him. I just can't even believe you. You know you must've loved him at one point unless you were just screwing around with him."

"Toby doesn't need another mother, Oz. He's not your little baby to protect. He's twenty-seven years old and does not need for you to look out for him." Liv shoots back.

"Obviously you don't know what "friends" are Liv. Friends look out for each other. Friends keep each other safe and protect each other's hearts from being crushed by trampy women like you."

"Trampy? You're calling_ me_ trampy?! What the heck?!" Liv shouts.

"Yeah, I'm calling you trampy because not only did you lie to Toby, you used him! You were just "playing" in your mind but to the rest of the world you actually gave a crap about him!"

"And you think I don't care about him?! Why would I be standing here if I didn't care about him?!"

"If you cared about him, you wouldn't have cheated on him. You would've broken it off the second you found yourself interested in another guy and not keep Toby on the hook still, waiting for you." Oz says loudly.

"I wasn't cheating on him!" Liv yells.

"So what were you doing?" Oz asks, keeping his voice low and steady.

"I – I don't know what I was doing! I liked Toby. I really did. Then Todd started catching my eye and - "

"And you should've broken it off." He interrupts.

"And I didn't know what to do about it. I thought Toby was getting bored with me since he was always acting strange and quiet on our date-nights."

"Ever think that maybe he was just trying to contain his excitement of seeing you? Working up the courage to ask you to marry him? Trying to calm himself down? The kid works like a dog and he needs a chance to breathe every once in a while. The IIB uses him like he's their little crime-solving machine and being an EMT isn't all that easy either."

"Oz, I know that. But Todd is something different, something special." Liv states quietly.

"Different? Special?!" Oz roars. "If a telepath isn't different or special enough for you God only knows what is! Todd works as a barista in a coffee shop a block and a half from your house. He has a Bachelor's degree in communications and he looks like every other third man that walks down the side walk. Medium height, medium weight, brown hair, green eyes, no style. If you wanted a piece of brown cardboard, why on earth were you even attracted to Toby in the first place?!"

"I don't know! How am I supposed to know why I'm attracted to someone?! Toby was attractive, he was charming, he was sweet and kind and lovable. And he still is, but he's not for me anymore. It wasn't working, Oz."

"So why didn't you just break up with him. Call him, text him, meet him somewhere and just tell him it's over instead of letting him think that everything's fine and dandy and that you want to marry him. You were the love of his life but he had no idea that you barely even liked him anymore as an acquaintance."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry you think that this is all my fault. It's not my problem that he over-reacted. Yeah, maybe I should've talked to him about things not working a little sooner but the guy reads minds, I figured he'd read it and bug off."

"Toby is an honest man. He will do everything in his power to keep his word. Not all men are lying, cheating, hogs, you know."

"I know, Oz. But it's over now and I have to go. I hope Toby recovers, I do, but I can't do anything for him now." She says before quickly leaving.

Oz sinks back down into the chair next to Toby wondering how all of this could have happened. Even he thought Liv and Toby would be happily married in a few months but now Toby's in a coma with severe injuries and Liv doesn't want anything to do with him. Oh life, how evil are thout game of malice. All that day, Oz sits by his motionless friend. The quick beeps of his heart are a reminder of the grave situation at hand. Once, Oz thinks he sees Toby's hand move but a few minutes of waiting quickly prove that thought wrong. Ten o'clock comes and goes. He thinks about heading home for the night but he really wants to be here for his friend. He glances down at his watch. 23:27, it reads. Almost eleven thirty. Oz starts to stand but he sees something move. He whips around and finds Toby struggling to wake up.

"Tob? Toby?"

He presses the call button at least a hundred times and Toby's eyes flutter open, sending him into a coughing fit and a scream of pain.

"Toby, shhh, shhh, it's okay. It's okay. Breathe Tob, breathe." Oz soothes.

Two nurses rush into the room, injecting a dose of morphine into Toby's arm while he attempts to pull his oxygen mask off. Oz quickly secures the mask to his friend's face so he cannot remove it.

"Toby, Toby it's Oz. Stop fighting me, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you."

The young paramedic finally calms down and quits struggling, falling limply against Oz's arms that were holding him down, breathing heavily.

"That's it Tob. Just relax buddy. I'm not going to hurt you but if you keep thrashing around, you're going to end up hurting yourself, little man."

"Oz it hurts." Toby whimpers through his mask.

"What hurts buddy?"

"M-my back and my head, my side. Why does my side hurt?" He starts to panic.

"Easy little man, take it easy. You were run down by a jacked up pick-up truck three weeks ago. While you were being treated for your injuries, your appendix ruptured. You underwent an emergency surgery to remove it immediately before it caused any more damage." Oz explains softly, looking into Toby's groggy and pained eyes.

"Why does the rest of me hurt?" he asks quietly.

"Well, mostly from being run over, buddy."

"Please don't lie to me, Oz. My brain hurts and I want to know why."

'_I can't just tell him how bad off he is! It'll crush him! Not to mention after he remembers what Liv told him. Maybe he won't remember that part.'_ Oz thinks.

Oz's thoughts filter into Toby's in a jumble but he understands that there's something Oz isn't telling him.

"Oz, please don't lie to me. What aren't you telling me? Why can't I feel my legs?!" his question is muffled and he's trying to squirm away from Oz.

"Toby don't move!" Oz says with a bit panic in his voice.

Toby freezes and looks into Oz's eyes truly scared.

"Easy now. I'm going to lay you down now, buddy. Don't move." Once Toby is lying flat on his back again, Oz takes a deep breath. "Toby your back is broken and your spinal cord is damaged, that's why you can't feel your legs."

"What else?" Toby asks through his mask quite horrified.

"You still have a bit of internal bleeding, most of the broken bones are healing well but your right leg is still severely broken and an infection is trying break out. Your brain was bleeding and your memory might be slightly damaged. You've been in a coma for the past two weeks buddy."

"Am I, I, paralyzed?" the young medic asks purely terrified.

"I-I don't know little man. I – I sure hope not. You're gonna be fine kiddo, I know you will. You gotta be. Just rest Toby, we'll run more tests tomorrow. Just get to sleep, it's late." Oz says realizing it's close to midnight.

Over the next few days, Toby heals internally and externally. The doctors are able to fight off the infection in his right leg with antibiotics. Poor Toby cries himself to sleep nearly every night after convincing Oz to go home. His legs are numb and he is currently in a back brace so movement is impossible until he is stable enough to perform surgery on. Thankfully to Oz, not so thankful for Liv, Toby's memory was not lost or even damaged. Liv visits him occasionally but only when Oz is nowhere to be found. Toby is still very uncomfortable around her but he tries to understand. Most of the time he's just happy to be alive. The surgery finally takes place and bone fragments are successfully removed from Toby's spinal cord, enabling him to begin to feel his legs. The weeks pass with steady progress. Oz helps his friend learn how to walk again. It scares Oz to see Toby wobbling on his feet, trying to walk around his own hospital room but he lets go and smiles every time he sees Toby Logan, the telepathic, ice-blue eyed orphan boy everybody loves deemed paralyzed and broken beyond belief finally walking on his own.

"You're doin' great, Tob!" Oz encourages as Toby wobbles down the hall using a cane and the wall. When he returns to Oz's side, he gives the younger medic a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. "I'm so proud of you Toby. You're gonna be back on the road in no time."

"I wish it could be sooner." Toby says smiling sadly. Oz knows how bored out his mind he's been lately.

"Yeah, yeah. You'll get over it, little man. C'mon let's go back in." Oz suggests guiding Toby back into his room for dinner and a nice long chat with each other about life.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Thanks so much for reading! That wraps up my little story then! Please, please review! I'd love to know what you guys think! Thank you so much! Please review! Thank you!_


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